February 4, 2009 (Wednesday)
- 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict:
- An Israel Defense Force investigation concludes that the attack on Izzeldin Abuelaish was reasonable. (Jerusalem Post)
- The United Nations backtracks on a claim that a deadly Israeli Defense Force strike hit a Gaza school. (Haaretz)
- Hamas police storm a United Nations warehouse in Gaza and seize blankets and food intended for Palestinian civilians. (Haaretz)
- Late 2000s recession
- The United States Treasury moves to broaden its debt ranging options to raise the trillions of dollars needed to cope with the current recession. (Reuters)
- German legendary model train manufacturer Märklin goes bankrupt after the failure of long-running restructuring efforts. (Der Spiegel) (Financial Times)
- Panasonic Corp. announces plans to shut down 27 plants throughout the world and slash 15,000 jobs due to a slump in demand for its electronic products resulting from the worldwide recession. (AP via Google News)
- Icelandic retail group Baugur has applied to a district court in Reykjavík to enter into a moratorium process. (Sky News)
- Unemployment in Ireland sees the highest monthly increase in 40 years, with the equivalent of 1,500 people being laid off daily. (RTÉ)
- Russian financial crisis of 2008-2009:
- Fitch Ratings downgrades Russia's long-term foreign and local currency ratings to BBB and places its outlook on negative. (Dow Jones via Easy Bourse)
- Samira Ahmed Jassim, who allegedly recruited more than 80 suicide bombers, is arrested in Iraq. (Times Online)
- The High Court of Justice alleges British resident Benyam Mohammed was tortured and that the US threatened to withdraw intelligence help from the United Kingdom if details were released. (BBC)
- A senior British Army officer is arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of breaking the Official Secrets Act by leaking information on civilian casualties to a human rights campaigner. (Press Association via The Guardian)
- Sri Lankan artillery attacks in the last 24 hours in the Vanni result in the deaths of at least 52 Tamils. (The Guardian)
- Latvia's Minister of Agriculture resigns in the wake of growing protests by farmers. (BBC)
- The director of Somalia's independent HornAfrik radio station, Said Tahlil Ahmed, is killed in Mogadishu. (BBC)
- An estimated 15,000 students in Dublin, Ireland, protest the threatened reintroduction of university fees. (RTÉ)
- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announces a commission to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. (AFP via Google News)
- Fossils from Colombia reveal Titanoboa cerrejonensis, the largest snake ever discovered. (Nature)
- German public television station ZDF reports that Nazi fugitive Aribert Heim died in 1992. (AFP via Google News)
- Eight trucks are attacked en route to Afghanistan by suspected Taliban militants. (BBC News)